Clockwise from top left: Extratapete; Abigail Borg; Judit Gueth and Ella Doran

Whether you choose to get gloopy with paste and cavort on ladders to create an all-over look or cut the time and effort and go for a feature wall, wallpaper is a relatively easy and cheap way of adding personality to your interior. Forget boring stripes or outdated paisley designs, we have some beautiful, modern wallpaper options that will instantly update your rooms.

Flora and Fauna

Admittedly floral designs might seem a little old-fashioned but there are some innovative designers who are turning the traditional on its head, creating some really interesting and different patterns that are very cool and contemporary. If you aren’t a green-fingered sort or simply don’t have space for a garden, add some greenery to your interior with Ella Doran’s Sunlight Through Leaves digitally printed photographic paper. This would look fresh, clean and brighten up any bathroom or kitchen with its green tones. Extratapete also produce vibrant photo print wallpaper – their Summer collection is great.Young designer Abigail Borg’s floral patterns have a vintage feel to them, and their pretty, feminine colours are perfect for a bedroom – we particularly like Mauve Lily. Tres Tintas Barcelona’s Bambu Crew is the result of a collaboration between Faile and the art world’s favourite bad boy, Banksy. The bamboo leaf design is available in various colours, from khaki and turquoise to red and beige. This is one pattern that you could easily paper a whole room in, to create an effortlessly modern look. Animal prints are a perenially glamorous fashion trend; translate the look from the catwalk to your home with Lorca’s Gattopardo paper. The sun may not shine everyday, but  Nina Campbell’s delicious Farfalla wallpaper brings butterflies on a summer breeze to your walls. A wonderfully whimsical design comes from Judit Gueth – her Pink Flamingos paper is pure fun.

Clockwise from top left: Dupenny; Timorous Beasties and Montmartre

Sex and Death

If you want to use wallpaper to dramatic effect, why not choose an unsual and unexpected motif? Dupenny’s retro designs bring a sense of fun with some seriously sexy eyecatching patterns. The Burlesque paper would add a sultry edge to your bedroom or perhaps jazz up your bathroom or hall with some naughty Call Girls. There are more artsy nudes from Brewers Montmartre paper, although if you like your ladies a little more modest, the company’s Poster Art design will allow you to cover your walls with Can Can dancers from the Moulin Rouge! On first glance, Timorous Beasties wallpaper may look fairly traditional, but look closer and you’ll spot crack whores, prostitutes and all manner of shady types. Their Bloody Hell paper combines turquoise toile and some charming gun-toting figures. The devil is indeed, in the details with the Devil Damask flock wallpaper – darkly genius home design.

Make it Your Own

Looking for truly unique wallpaper that you won’t find anywhere else? Various papers allow you to create, design and even play with your walls! 5.5 Designers Wallpaper Games provides relief from boredom with crossword puzzles, wordsearches and games of tic-tac-toe. If you miss the days of colouring books, Wallpaper-By-Numbers are simply brilliant – take your pencils and paints and shade in your paper! Erica Wakerly’s Homes paper would also look great coloured in and it’s a little bit more grown up. Ex-scratchcard addict? Linda Florence creates amazing wallpaper with a silver layer that you scratch off to reveal the pattern underneath. If you’d like to display your photographs differently, Bodie and Fou’s Family wallpaper is a fun way of making a personalised feature of family and friends. Graham and Brown also have a similar design called Frames. Alternatively make one image a focal point of the room – Concept Coverings will create bespoke wallpaper from your photographs.

Clockwise from top left: Deborah Bowness; Trina Andersen, and Bodie & Fou

Girly Wirly

Wallpaper can be fabulously feminine; add a trendsetting look to your bedroom with Trina Anderson’s Fashion paper which features catwalking models and other fashionable folk. If you’re a shoe lover, then you’ll adore Mother-in-Law wallpaper designed by Lisa Bengstonn with its print of sexy stilettos, cowboy boots and cute ballerina pumps. To add a fashionable accent, go for Brewers Memories border which has prints of couture models set against old-fashioned French adverts. Deborah Bowness’ Wallpaper Frocks collection is just genius; life-size prints of ultra-trendy clothes from British designers add a hint of Cool Britannia to your bedroom. Add embellishments to your walls with Tracy Kendall’s Sequins paper – it was inspired by 1920s flapper girls.

Fun Stuff

Remember the days when you used to make hand shadows on the walls? Bodie & Fou’s Hand Made wallpaper features the very same shadows shapes of geese, ducks, rabbits and the like, so you can play around and try to recreate them yourself! You may have spent your childhood planning the far-flung places you’d like to travel to – and with Extratapete’s City series of papers, you can have the panoramic cityscapes of Paris, Berlin, Los Angeles or Rome on the walls. If your dreams are more about what you’d like your home to look like, The Collection has some amazing wallpapers featuring chic interiors – don’t bother buying the expensive contemporary furniture, just put it on your wall! You can also display your cultural aspirations with Cole & Son’s Ex Libris design which has a book print or go retro with cassette tapes and Rare Device’s Analog Nights design. For something very contemporary, Jenny Bergstrom’s Apocalyptic Forecast collection of wallpaper has a pattern created by diagrams presented in the report of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change on temperature changes from 2007!